Draughts is played on a 8x8 board with 32 playable squares with one
playable square at the bottom left of the board - this is illustrated
on the diagram to the left. Each player starts out with 12 pieces
placed on opposite sides of the board. The player with the black pieces
starts the game by moving a piece one square diagonally forward. Notice
that this is different from e.g. chess where the white player always starts.
The two players thereafter take turns to move until the game is over.

When one player having the turn has no possible moves, the game is lost, this can happen if the opponent has captured all the other player's pieces OR if the remaining pieces has no legal squares to move to. This is illustrated in the diagram to the right where the black player (moving downwards) has his only legal move square occupied by a white piece.

No black moves = white win

Legal Moves

When a piece reaches the opponents back row the piece becomes crowned
(typically by placing an extra piece on top of the piece, but in the
illustration to the left it is shown with a crown drawing)
and it can now move backwards. The ability to move backwards is the only
difference between a crowned piece and a regular piece. A crowned piece
is not able to move longer than a regular piece and a crowned piece can
also be jumped by a regular piece.

If an opponent piece is placed adjacent to one of your pieces, as shown
on the image to the right, you MUST capture the piece by jumping over it.
The forced capture rule is the most important rule in draughts and most
of the beauty and complexity of the game is the result of this rule.
If given the choice between jumps you can choose freely; you don't
have to select the jump that captures the most pieces.

Piece capture

If you jump into the opponents back row the piece becomes crowned but it
is not crowned until the next turn. This means that you cannot
jump backwards in the same turn. The diagram on the right illustrates this;
the black player can only jump the first piece. This rule is the cause
of some beautiful traps called in-and-out shots
(see traps) can you spot the
simple shot it in the diagram to the right where it is black to move
and white to win ?